Hope had practically had her ear to the ground the past hour, waiting to hear the sound of the gate opening, indicating Raymond's arrival. She was out the door and opening the door on Raymond's side of the car even before the car was properly parked.
"Why haven't you been answering your phone?!"
Raymond blinked, looking confused as to why Hope looked like she was about to combust. He hesitated a bit, contemplating whether getting out of the car was the best course of action. He eventually did, carefully picking his words to avoid Hope going off on a tirade on him. "I didn't know it was ringing, sorry. Good afternoon to you too, Hope."
"I bet you wouldn't find the afternoon so good when you hear about the latest development."
The urgency in her tone had Raymond and Alex sharing a quick look. Even Angel seemed curious as to what was going on. The three of them stood there, waiting for her to elaborate.
When it became obvious she wasn't going to, Raymond prompted, "Okay . . . What's this about? Did anything happen? Is your mum alright?"
"What--" It took Hope a minute to realize he thought something must have happened at the nursing home. "No, it has nothing to do with my mum -- no actually it does, but it's not that." She took a deep breath to calm her rambling. " She knows."
Her response only fed his confusion further. "Your mum? Knows about what?"
Frustrated, Hope exclaimed. "About us! She knows about us!"
"Oh." It took a moment but she could clearly see when the implications of her words dawned on him. "Oh."
"Yeah, exactly. Now, she wants to see have a talk with the both of us," Hope rambled on. "You'd at least have gotten a heads up if you'd picked your call."
"We'll be inside, you guys," Alex announced, bringing Hope's attention back to the fact that they were still standing there. Angel was staring between her and Raymond with a look that bordered between confused and amused, but Hope was too occupied to pay much attention to that. She barely even noticed Alex grabbing ahold of a reluctant Angel, ushering the girl in against her will.
"So? What are we going to do?"
"Go in and hear what she has to say. It's been a long time coming anyway," Raymond replied. It wasn't as if they had any other option.
Hope wasn't sure what she'd expected, but it certainly wasn't for Raymond to still be so composed when she felt like she was about losing her mind.
"Really. Aren't you even a bit worried about this?"
"Of course I am, but we'd already prepared for this, remember?" Raymond replied. "Before the unexpected events of the past week consumed everyone's minds, we were going to tell her."
While he was right, that felt like way too long ago to Hope. She might have been prepared then, but she definitely wasn't prepared anymore. "Ugh. How I wish we'd told her then. At least it'd have been over by now. Is there a way we could go back and rewind things just a little bit? I promise I'll make better life choices this time around --" She turned to see that he was smiling amusedly despite her panicked rambling. "Of course you're smiling. I'm a nervous wreck right now, and you still have the ability to smile. Life's so unfair."
"Well, you're freaking out enough for the both of us. Besides . . . " He started, grabbing hold of her hand. "It's just your mum. We'll be fine. Speaking of your mum, we should go in before she starts getting more pissed off than she probably is already."
"What if she says no? You're not going to break up with me, are you?" Hope asked, finally voicing out her real cause of concern. Her intense glare dared him to say something stupid.
In the span of the three seconds it took for him to respond, Hope could feel her heart in her throat. Was he actually thinking of ending things with her if her mum disagreed? Hope almost laughed at herself right then. How had she gone from the girl that was hardly fazed by anything to being the constantly nervous one who was afraid of a breakup?
"Hope," he said gently, bringing her back from her thoughts. "When I told you I love you, that was me letting you know I'm in for the long haul. Even if your mum disapproves of us now, we'll just have to wear her down until she agrees."
"Okay, so . . . Just so it's on record, you're saying you're not going to break up with me, right?" Hope repeated, just to be clear.
He chuckled, shaking his head at her antics.. "Yes, Hope. We're not breaking up."
"Okay."
"Okay?"
"Mm."
"Come on then," he urged her, heading for the door.
"Let's get this over with," she agreed, following as he headed inside.
Hope's mum took her time coming downstairs even after everyone was settled, and even when she came, aside from the grudging response she gave when they greeted her, she didn't say anything else. Hope had a feeling that was her way of intimidating them. She didn't need to try so hard though. Hope was intimidated enough already.
What next? Were they supposed to wait for her to bring the issue up first or was she waiting for them to say something? Hope was familiar enough with her mum's antics to know she was baiting them either ways.
Although Raymond had tried to put up a cool front just so Hope could calm down a bit, he was getting uncomfortable in his seat with the way Hope's mum alternatively glared at him and Hope. There was just something about mothers when it came to their children. It was more than a bit nerve wracking.
Just as Raymond decided to broach the topic a, come what may, Hope beat him to it.
"Mummy please stop with the intimidation already." Hope flinched at the glare her mum levelled at her. "Before you say anything about how you're going to ship me off to a nunnery, I just want to let you know that this isn't some childish infatuation for me. I know Raymond enough to know that even if he says that he won't break up with me, he wouldn't be able to go against your will if you decide not to accept our relationship. I'm mature enough to know that I genuinely love Raymond, mum and I believe he loves me too so please don't disapprove of us just because you think I'm not old enough to be in a relationship."
At the end of her rant, everyone's gaze were fixed on her, mostly with a mutual expression of surprise, with the exception of her mum who was still glaring at her. Certainly no one had been expecting that, her mum especially.
Raymond took that as his cue to chip in. "I'm sorry I kept this from you as I did a lot of other things ma. That was wrong of me and I'll totally understand if you don't want me to be with Hope -- ow! --" he turned, surprised to Hope who had intentionally stepped on his feet, almost crushing his toes in the process. Her glare communicated her thoughts clearly. He wasn't supposed to even bring that up. He shook his head reassuringly before continuing. "What I'm trying to say is that while it was wrong for me to enter into a relationship with Hope without your consent, I honestly do love your daughter, ma, and I'll do everything to make her happy if you give us your blessing."
The sound of a pin dropping could have been heard afterwards with the level of silence that filled the room. Even baby Ella seemed to be aware of the tension in the room with the way she was looking around at everyone.
"And if I say no, would you respect me enough to end this relationship?"
"Mummy!" Hope whined, her tone and gaze pleading.
Her mum didn't as much as glance at her as she focused all her attention on Raymond who now looked conflicted.
"While I would not see Hope behind your back, ma . . . " Wait, what? "I believe strongly that Hope is the one for me, and I'll wait however long it takes for you to give us your blessing."
Less than a half hour and he was already changing his tune? What happened to 'Hope, I'll never break up with you' Hope could have smacked the life out of him right then, right there.
"How many times have I told you to call me mum?"
"What?"
"Just so we're clear, I don't appreciate how the both of you have been keeping things away from me recently and I demand total honesty from now on. . ." Her mum warned.
"We're deeply sorry about that, and yes ma -- mum, total honesty," Raymond promised.
"In that case, I guess it's better you than some random strange boy from God knows where."
"Mummy! What are you saying?" Hope demanded, getting, but not quite believing what was happening.
Her mum continued as if she hadn't spoken. "I hope you both have really thought this through. There must be nothing called a breakup as far as I'm concerned. You two must carry this your love to the altar. Am I making myself clear?"
That was it? That was all it took? All those threats over the years forbidding her from having a boyfriend until she was done with school, and this was all it took???
"Mummy!" Hope exclaimed, jumping up from her seat to squeeze the life out of her mum, her grin wider than her face. "You don't have to worry, mummy. I promise you that I will marry him. I will even drag him down to the altar if there's the need to."
"And you, Raymond? Do you see yourself getting married to Hope?"
"Yes, ma. I would never have started this otherwise," Raymond promised.
Hope's heart swelled as she shot him the brightest smile she could muster. How she loved the man.
"In that case, you have my blessing."
"Thank you so much, mummy. I love you so much." With that, Hope started plastering unsolicited kisses on her mum's face, holding on tighter when her mum tried to shrug her off.
"Thank you, ma. I promise you won't regret this." Even Raymond couldn't control the ear splitting grin eating up his face.
"I don't know, I think I already am," her mum grunted, trying to no avail to pluck Hope off of her. "Hope! I promise you I'm one second away from changing my mind and sending you off to that nunnery."
With that, Hope went completely still.
Her mum laughed, shaking her head. "Are you sure about this, Raymond? There's still time to change your mind o.You could do so much better."
Raymond laughed, shaking his head. "I'm good, ma."
"Mummy! Why would you even put that idea in his head?!"
Sophie watched the scene unfolding with a big smile of her own. Somehow she'd known it would end well, even though Hope had been convinced otherwise.
She turned to her husband who was also quietly watching the scene with Angel almost asleep on his chest.
Sophie observed Alex with keen eyes, trying to figure out something that'd been on her mind ever since she found out about Raymond and Hope.
"What is it?" Alex asked when he noticed her almost boring a hole into him with her gaze.
"I've been thinking about it, and I realized that not for once were you surprised about Raymond and Hope's relationship and it makes me wonder. Did you by any chance already know about them?"
He could tell where the enquiry was going so he didn't say anything, and that was answer enough for her.
"Oh my God, you actually did!" Sophie exclaimed, keeping her voice quiet to avoid attracting the others' attention.
He shrugged, nonchalant as always. "I figured it out some while ago."
"You betrayer!" Sophie accused. "How can you claim to love me yet do something like this to me?"
"Do something like what, Sophia?"
"Hide such vital information from me, what else?"
"I don't see how that has anything to do with me loving you, babe."
"Oh please. How am I supposed to ever trust you after this?" Sophie continued, cutting Alex off when we went to say something else. "Now see what you've done. Thanks to you, I'll never be able to trust again!"
Moments like this, Alex really saw the similarities between Sophie and Hope. He thought about saying something else, but gave up on the idea almost immediately. He was just glad everything finally seemed to be getting back to normal with his family.
• ~ •
"I told you everything was going to work out just fine."
"Yeah, right. You can talk now. I can't believe you told mum you were going to break up with me if she asked you to!" Hope accused.
Hours after the confession and confrontation saga, Hope's mum had finally retired to her room, finally giving Hope and Raymond the chance to talk. Her mum might have given her consent, but the whole thing was still new to her. They had to be careful with how they acted around her before she got it in her head that it hadn't been such a good idea afterall.
Responding to Hope's accusation, Raymond said, "Do you think she would have appreciated it if I'd told her I'd keep dating you without her consent instead?"
Hope had to admit he had a point there. "Well, maybe not. But at least we'd have had a scene straight out of a movie that way. Y'know, you'd go all, 'I'm never leaving her no matter what you say' on my mum and then my mum would get so angry and disown me."
Intrigued, Raymond prompted, "Really. And what happens next?"
"What else?" She grinned. "You'll have to take responsibility for me, of course."
"Unfortunately, in this case, I doubt your mum would have disowned you. That nunnery idea you had would have been a more likely option."
"I know," Hope replied, not missing a beat. "That's why I have an alternative plan."
"I can't wait to hear this one," Raymond muttered, voice dripping with sarcasm.
"We'd have eloped, gotten married and came back years after with a dozen children," Hope announced giddily.
"Wow. A whole dozen! You had it all figured out, didn't you?"
"Yep. I had to prepare for the worst."
"And a wonderful job you did at that."
"Thank you," Hope replied, happy to ignore his sarcasm. They'd told her mum, and she'd given them her blessing. Hope still found it so hard to get over. "I never thought I'd be saying this, but I'm glad the truth is finally out. It's like a huge weight has been lifted off me."
"Don't I know what you mean."
"Now we don't have to keep secrets anymore," Hope observed. All those years of keeping things to herself and she was finally rid of all the burden.
"A part I'm most grateful for," Raymond admitted. "At least now I don't have to contract a PI to keep tabs on you."
She looked at him skeptically. "Did you?"
"Did I what?"
"Hire a PI to spy on me?"
"What? Don't be ridiculous. I seriously contemplated it, to be honest, but I didn't."
"I don't believe you," Hope deadpanned.
"I couldn't possibly--"
"Yes, you could. You totally could."
"Are you se-- I'm not that extreme," he argued.
"Mm."
"Really. All I did was ask Oke to keep an eye on you at the restaurant. That's it," Raymond insisted.
Hope chuckled. She'd only been teasing him but hadn't actually expected he'd really sent anyone to keep an eye on her. "You did what? And he agreed to do that?"
"Well. I didn't tell you this before, but Oke and I have known each other for a while. I met him sometime ago when his family was going through a bit of financial crisis --"
"Ah, say no more," Hope interrupted him, already sensing where the story was going from there. "You never pass on the opportunity to play the good Samaritan, do you?"
"Why do you say that like it's a bad thing?"
"It's not," Hope replied. "Except for the fact that you let people take advantage of you too many times. It's really cute though."
"I do not let people take advantage of me," he refuted almost indignantly.
"Haha," Hope laughed; the sort of fake laugh that was comical in itself. "No, at all you don't."
His eyes narrowed as he scowled at her. He almost looked like he was sulking, and it was just so cute. "I won't change a thing though. It's part of what makes you such an amazing human."
His scowl immediately changed into a smirk. "You're so smitten with me, aren't you?"
" . . . And there goes the obnoxious side not everyone is aware about," Hope teased.
He laughed, pulling her to himself. "But I don't really allow people take advantage of me, do I?"
"The fact that you even have to ask that question is alarming."